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John Murphy: Vegetables NZ Chair says fresh produce prices could well begin to rise · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Food prices have gone up three and a half percent
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: in the last year. This is the year to March.
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  Speaker 1: We had the stats and z numbers out yesterday. Inflation
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: on non alcoholic beverages and grocery items are the key drivers,
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: butter and as we've just seen, and chocolate being the
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  Speaker 1: worst offenders. Chair of Vegetables in z John Murphy with
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  Speaker 1: me this morning. John, Good morning, Ran. Good to have
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  Speaker 1: you on the show. So interestingly, veggies actually were among
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  Speaker 1: the group coming down.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think we've certainly done our part and keeping
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  Speaker 2: that inflation low, which is good for consumers. And yeah,
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  Speaker 2: I would say that it actually shows that it's a
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  Speaker 2: pretty tough time out there for vegetable growers at the moment,
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  Speaker 2: so we do have to keep an eye on that
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  Speaker 2: for sure.
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  Speaker 1: What's tough at the moment.
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  Speaker 2: Look, I think the key thing there is consenting, a
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  Speaker 2: lack of consistent consenting around various regions in New Zealand,
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  Speaker 2: and that's really the thing that could have an effect.
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  Speaker 2: The other way in these figures is to the future.
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  Speaker 2: So we're working pretty hard to make sure that fresh,
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  Speaker 2: healthy food is prioritized in the RIMA reforms that are
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  Speaker 2: going on at the moment. We think that's really essential
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  Speaker 2: so that we don't see a spike the other way
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  Speaker 2: in the future.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, let's put that to a side for one second.
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  Speaker 1: But well, do you think we'll see these numbers keep
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  Speaker 1: falling or will they stabilize? Here?
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  Speaker 2: What happens for vegetables, they can't fall any further, To
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  Speaker 2: be honest, I think we're at a point where we've
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  Speaker 2: got really abundant supplies of fresh vegetables, and I would
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  Speaker 2: say there's some really good buying it there at the moments.
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  Speaker 2: Of course we're hoping people get out and for their trolleys,
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  Speaker 2: But no, I don't see them coming down any further
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  Speaker 2: for vegetables, that's for sure, and not going up. Look,
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  Speaker 2: I think they could well go up, and particular, you
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  Speaker 2: see the likes of a cyclone that's approaching that where
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  Speaker 2: we see big spikes, and when we saw Gabrielle. It
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  Speaker 2: seems like it's a distant past now, but we saw
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  Speaker 2: fresh cut greens production go down by that fifteen percent
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  Speaker 2: with that horrendous event. Now fifteen percent doesn't sound a lot,
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  Speaker 2: but prices went up to three hundred percent because the
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  Speaker 2: market tipped. So we don't want to see that in
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  Speaker 2: the future.
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  Speaker 1: Certainly don't. Neither of us want to see that now.
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  Speaker 1: The consenting issues the government made. If you've announced a
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  Speaker 1: few changes to land use a couple of weeks back,
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  Speaker 1: and that affects you know, it will affect your growers.
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  Speaker 1: What do they think about them? Are they thinking they're
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  Speaker 1: a good idea or are they thinking they're bad for business.
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  Speaker 2: Look, there's no doubt that there needs to be a reset.
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  Speaker 2: So it's good that we're looking at it. But when
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  Speaker 2: it comes to highly productive land, having good soils, great water,
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  Speaker 2: great people, great, but we need consent to actually use
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  Speaker 2: the land for what we're doing, and that part of
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  Speaker 2: the equation hasn't been solved yet. So particularly in areas
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  Speaker 2: like hot Offena and Pokakoe, those areas are in a
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  Speaker 2: major threat if they disappear from the national food that
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  Speaker 2: we've got, If we don't have that supply, then that
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  Speaker 2: will affect the number of vegetable growers who are in business,
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  Speaker 2: and that would not be good for these figures going forward.
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  Speaker 1: Good point, John, Thank you for that. John Murphy, share
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  Speaker 1: of vegetables and Z with us this morning talking about
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  Speaker 1: the price of wealth. What you put in your mouth
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• 3:20
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